The Invitation

I sipped my cup of coffee waiting for the delivery of breakfast, Ciel was just getting ready to leave, today he was wearing a suit, a dark gray pin-striped suit. He was wearing something like this the first time I met him, and he had the same air about him. He then held out his handing something familiar, it was Annie's bracelet, the one that Officer Alcade had given to me on my first encounter with the demon. Remembering Annie, I was about to take it, but instead Ciel had placed the bracelet around my wrist.

"Do not", he said, "in any circumstance remove this, I cannot protect you all the time. You need to be careful. It's time to stop running away Beth, when you find your chance, do what must be done, or else this will never end." I couldn't respond, I was still afraid, and I just want to have a normal life. Knock! Knock! Knock! It was the delivery guy, I limped my way to the door to get my breakfast, Ciel just forced a smile, bade me goodbye, and with a snap of his fingers he was gone. For many a time I almost forgot that Ciel wasn't human, he was someone who is not of this earth and he was in love with my dead great aunt, he was out of my league.

After breakfast I took my most awaited bath, the feeling of water against my skin was glorious, the smell of my favorite shampoo and body-wash was relaxing, it was bliss. I needed to be presentable as Dannie will be dropping by today for my documents and to give me an update of what has been happening at work. The thought of normalness in the midst of all this craziness made me smile, if only days like this will continue. Speaking of craziness, I was welcomed by it, the whole unit was still a mess, and with no way of explaining all of it, Charles will really go berserk at me if he sees this, which will be today, I almost forgot. Ah, never mind, I thought to myself, I'll explain when they ask, right now it's best that I get ready.

At exactly eleven o' clock they came, Dannie and Charles, the look on their faces said it all, the place was a disaster, and no amount of explanation will be able to suffice. I offered the sofa but Charles immediately went to the windows.

"How in the world does one crack a reinforced glass window?!" he exclaimed, demons, I thought, "Beth! What have you been doing while you were holed up here? My goodness, sweetheart, I know you're grieving but what did the carpet ever do to you, deserve to be burned?" hellhounds did that, I responded in my head

"So yeah...how much and how long?" I asked, bracing myself

"Two hundred thirty to two fifty-five give or take, the window will take the longest, might need at least a week to three weeks max", then he walked to the bathroom, I saw how his eyes widened looking at the missing shower door, the stained tiles that I passed off as paint stains, broken cabinets and tiles, "you know what... make that three hundred and a month... this place was trashed", he said in exasperation.

Soon as he sat on my sofa that he didn't fail to mention was okay, but not great, Dannie handed him a cup of coffee, she handed me a glass of tap water, I must have been looking bad knowing the price of the damages.

After the initial plans Charles left, I just wanted to collapse on the floor, but he wasn't done yet, he then advised that I vacate the place by tomorrow, leaving me the dilemma of where to stay... I still don't have it in me to go home. I had to make some calls, I sighed. Dannie placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a consoling smile, yes always the kind one, that is Dannie. I made the right decision for hiring her and she has proved to be the best assistant ever, and we have had this relationship for a little over two years now. She's responsible, sweet and always there, well even if she is perfect at work Dannie had little quirks that sometimes make me raise an eyebrow, she has a thing about water, she never drank plain water and if she can she wouldn't touch it, ice is okay, but not the moisture on the glass, I had even saw her rush away from a scene when a co-worker spilled water, she ran away so fast that it made you wonder if she will melt when water touched her. There had also been times that I caught her talking to herself in the mirror, but who doesn't right?

Soon as Charles was gone Dannie, began bombarding me with work, there had been a lot of things that she wanted me to sign and get done by the end of the day that I didn't have the time to catch my breath. She was ruthless when it comes to work and puts everything in order. She had me complete a final draft for one of our biggest clients, the Villalobos, she made me finish three quotations for Ms. Clarisse Ismael a model who wanted me to redo her whole second floor and even demanded that I find an interior decorator for her who is easy to work with, but she is the one who isn't easy to work with, she's one demanding bitch that I have the unfortunate fate of meeting, and all of my interior decorators had begged off to handle her case, i can't even argue about it. Then Dannie handed me an envelope, I looked up at her suspiciously, she gave a very unconvincing smile, what now, I thought begrudgingly and opened it. Inside was a letter from the last people that I could think of, Miriam Castello and her husband Jomarie Castello, they are the owners of the Glass House, the house which made me the architect that I am today and my best friend Lyra the coolest engineer ever. The letter was written in Miriam's hand, it read:

Dear Architect Villafuerte,

It's been quite some time since we have been in touch, but don't worry the house is fine, all is doing fine, actually fine is an understatement of how things are going in our family.. We wrote to you to let you know that Jomarie and myself will be renewing our vows, and we wanted for you to be here to celebrate with us. Herewith is an invitation for our wedding and plane tickets for you, we have also sent one to Engr. Castro.

We really hope both of you can make it, it would be our greatest joy to share with you the moment.

With love,

Miriam

Inside the envelope was the aforementioned invitation and plane tickets going to Boracay. I opened the invitation, the wedding was this weekend, based on the invitation, and the weekend was only two days away. I went livid, too little time and too much to do. I looked at Dannie who just got off the phone, she turned to me; she also looked bothered, "What", I asked as she hesitated, "out with it Dannie".

"Mr. Saldivar asks for a call back, he says that it's urgent", she handed me the phone, I took it and sighed, this guy really needs a lesson on timing. I dialed his number, and after only just one ring I heard his voice on the other end.

"Hello", he said, he sounded irritated, "look Mark I'm in no mood to deal with you right now, I have a lot to attend to." he spoke too fast that I didn't even had the chance to say hello before he dropped the call. I was stunned for a moment hearing Mr. Saldivar snapping at someone, but I wasn't supposed to be that someone I felt wronged and I felt that this guy needs a piece of my mind and quick. I took a deep breath and dialed again, and again one ring and he picked up.

"Hello", I said before he can even talk

"Hello", his voice changed it's tone from earlier, but now my temper is acting up, this guy had the gull to hang up on me and now I'm gonna make him regret it. "Who is this?"

I rolled my eyes, I will make him pay so bad, and I'm in such a bad mood with all the shit that has been happening. The unit for renovation, a demon who is hunting me down to stop me from killing him, and of course being slapped by the reality that the guy that I like is hung up with my great aunt who is long dead, I sighed, and I began.

"Sir, I believe that you had been calling my assistant for the last few days, I'm just returning the call. But if you are busy I can call again after a few days, as I will be very busy as well", I said flatly, then the line was dead, damn, that guy hung up on me again, I sighed and looked at Dannie and we started working, the designs that were submitted by some of my staff are for checking and the designs for the building Mr. Saldivar wants needs to be looked over as well. It wanted to emulate the Glass House, but I knew that it's impossible, I will never make a design like that house again, Annie is gone, and I should let go and move on.

I prepared three designs for him, all far different than the Glass house, the area where he wants it the building built is in place of an old colonial home, he wants it to be turned into a type of hostel or a home, but the idea was he wanted it to feel welcoming and comfortable. The first plan was building from the old Spanish colonial building that sat on the land, and my team modified the design to feel both old and modern at the same time. Using white-washed wood in the exterior, big sliding windows for good lighting and art-deco lighting features that will give an old feel for the home. I looked over the design, it felt as if it was a rendition of the Villafuerte Manor, my own home, but I did like it.

The second one was more of a minimalistic approach, it was modernized by slick lines and angles, Mr. Saldivar said that he wanted to have the place lit by the sun so we devised a skylight in the middle of the living room, it can be covered by an automated sun roof for days when the sun is so hot or if Mr. Saldivar just want his drop lights to be the only illumination.

The last one was a spin on the old country home, it was the simplest one, most homely, and most out of the brief. I set the documents in an email and sent it to him, I returned to the invitation, I re-read it another time, it's an unexpected development... Will I go or will I not, i thought to myself. I was still injured in some places and I really have no time to party with all the things happening around me, it's a risk. But then this offers an accommodation for me for the next few days, until maybe such time that I have finally made some arrangements for myself back here in Manila, but I really didn't want to stay there alone either, at least not in my partially invalid state, then I dialed Lyra, "Oh, yeah, you got it too.... Are you going? What you're on the way there!? Wow.... I see, okay okay... I'll see you there."

The call ended with us agreeing to meet up in Boracay and attend the party ... I had to let the host know, I then called Miriam.

"Hello", I heard a soft voice on the other end, it was Miriam

"Hi, Mrs. Castello, it's Beth Villafuerte", I said

"Beth oh my goodness!" i heard her exclaim in excitement, "it's been a long time since I last heard from you", then a pause, "I saw your family in the news, I'm so sorry, I heard that they found your sister's body recently. Our sympathies."

I held back a sigh, I forgot that it was in the news, I forced a smile, "Thank you. So about your wedding anniversary. I'll be seeing you there, I'll fly out tomorrow." I heard her let out a small squeal of excitement, I ended the call with a smile and the thought of shopping for a dress, then I felt a nudge on my shoulder that brought me back to the reality, it was Dannie. She gave me a small smile and we returned to our work, but this time it was a much more pleasurable experience after all, I'm going shopping after this.